Sunday, November 28, 2010

Winding down the year

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So much has happened in the last two weeks! Roger ran the Richmond Marathon. Thanks to many of your last minute donations (as well as a wonderful anonymous matching gift), we reached the $10,000 fundraising goal. As promised, Roger ran the 26.2 miles in his hot pink running skirt. He finished the race in somewhere between 5 and 6 hours (depending on whether you go by the "chip time" or the "official time") and after a few days of recovery, he was fit as a fiddle (or at least no worse for wear).

Thanks again to Rachel Pustilnik of Stroller Strides and the Mother Runners fitness group for providing training and moral support during this last year. Special thanks to Dr. Anna of Atlee Chiropractic for the regular adjustments that keep Roger's joints limber!

Roger's next marathon will be the Big Sur race in California in May. If anyone is interested in running this race (or the many smaller races associated with the event), please contact Roger so we can build a Race Team.

One week after the marathon, Ashland was abuzz with Citations for CJ. This event helped us raise over $650 for the Foundation. Special thanks to everyone that helped make this event a success, including:

We finish off the year with another distribution of Financial Assistance Grants. ﻿We received over 17 applications for this round and we were able to award 12 grants for a total of $6000. The remaining applications will be held "in place" until our next distribution period in 2011. For more information about the good work we have been able to do thanks to your generous donations, please check out our Annual Report.

On the personal front, Roger and I have been inundated by all kinds of emotions over the last few weeks. Any of you who have experienced a personal loss know that the holidays can be a difficult time. We are flooded with memories of holidays of the past and sad that we cannot share this year's holidays with our dear Charlotte. In all honesty, it is difficult to have a Happy Holiday. Last year at this time, we were preparing for our amazing Make-A-Wish trip to Florida and I think often of those days. We are grateful for the support and space that our friends and family continue to provide for us at this time. Though the year is coming to a close, there is still much to do at work and that will keep us busy and (somewhat) distracted. In addition, we plan to take a few days after Christmas for some personal "retreat" time. I am definitely looking forward to that.

Thank you for joining us on this journey.

Thank you for helping CJSTUF become a reality.

Thank you for helping us give back to the community that gave us so much in 2009.